- use finger-tip name searches to create classified biodiversity checklists
- add notes to your species' records. Export as a spreadsheet
- manage any biodiversity-related information globally
- designed to work best with Common Names
- in a wide selection of Languages

Why BioLists? - - - It's all about using NAMES!

"The entire structure of the scientific enterprise depends on communication."
(Steve Jones, 2013).

"... in my lifetime we have damaged [the Natural World] more severely than in the whole of the rest of Human History."
(David Attenborough, Video, 2012)

"... healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest ... because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depends upon it. The health of the earth is at stake as well." (Richard Louv, 2010: p.3)

"Taxonomy is fundamental to Biology. It provides a reference system that permits communication and access to the literature a well as a context for comparative Biology. (de Quieroz and Gauthier 1994: 30.)

"Unfortunately, the reality is that [taxonomic] descriptive scientists have all but disappeared, and that's not good for the environment or us." "... nature's future is increasingly dependent on the [ecological] decisions we humans will collectively make ..."
(David Suzuki & Dave Robert Taylor, 2009 :13 & 41)

OUR MISSION: to reconnect society to Nature. How? By making Nature's names available, stable and usable:

How BioLists works for you:
-- You search for each species by any of its names, and accept its classified details into your BioList:
-- BioLists makes good use of Common and Vernacular names in a wide range of languages.
-- You can add notes such as local environmental or other information to each species' record.
-- The taxonomically classified list of species names serves as an index for your information.
-- This Index means your species records are in an unchanging, predictable (and thus memorable) sequence.
-- Using Linnaean Taxonomy, Darwin and Wallace gave us the key to defining this sequence in 1858 - evolution by natural selection.
-- Download your BioLists as a Spreadsheet to further edit, merge, manage and export your information.

-- It's so intuitive that you may not need the following notes: JUST DO IT! GO BIOLISTS!

BioLists' present status: The system is new, stable and usable for quickly capturing any and all species names.As yet, the Database needs more Genus and species names - but for now, you just key these in.

+ ORDERS: A full range of taxonomic ORDERS in accepted (Time-band 2000) taxonomic sequence.
+ Families: almost all living and fossil Families are present.
+ Genera: all Genus names are included for all Flowering Plants, Amphibians, many Birds, and some Mammal groups.
+ species: all Sharks, 'all' aquarium Fishes, most aquatic Birds, plus all Whales and Dolphins, and sundry other groups.

Note: When searching on Common Names, each species record can be checklisted (with its classification) within a few seconds.
With searches using Family- and Genus-level entry, some keying-in will be needed, taking just a few seconds more for each record.

ORDERS and Families, in recent classifications for Flowering Plants, Sharks, Bony Fishes, Many Birds, also Cetatians, and some other Vertebrate groups.
All Genera of Flowering Plants are available in Time-band 2010 using the APG-III (2010) Classification. Similar for all fishes.

COMMON NAMES:
-- The Database can accommodate multiple, searchable COMMON and VERNACULAR (Language-based) species Names.
-- All species-level names (binomials) are given a single, unique UTILITY Name (based on its Genus names); this is for global use.
-- Well known species are also given a single less-formal (more usable), but also unique, TAG Name. Otherwise the "Tag" can be its Utility Name.

-- Most Whales, Porpoises and Dolphins are named in English, French, Canadian French, German and Italian. As yet, there are few Asian names.
-- Currently, most Common Names are for New Zealand Flowering Plants and New Zealand Birds, in both the NZ Maori language and NZ English.

-- Using Vernacular and Common Names (as a 3-character prompt), returns a basic Classification for the named species: Then add your Notes.
-- In your BioLists, use the Common Names you know best. Hey! Made up Common Names may be most memorable for you and your group.

NB:Time-bands are a BioList's innovation. As each Time-band (T-b) dataset fills up, a new version will be constructed - annually, if required.
-- By accepting the BioLists' names, all names and classification in your files will remain unchangead and compatible between all files for their Time-band.
-- In due course, your files, with their standard taxonomy for each Time-band, will be automatically updatable from one Time-band to the next.
-- As for name changes, reorganised classification will be automatically updatable from one Time-band to the next within a simplified Linnaean format.
-- BioLists is designed especially for Ecology and Natural History. Other professional Biologists and Scientists may find it convenient as a first stop.

b)
RECENT HISTORY
-- Most recent major system updates: - - - to the Site, 07 August 2014; - - - - - - to the Database, 18 September 2014
-- Subsequent minor system updates: - - - to the Site, 17 August 2014; - - - - - - to the Database, 27 September 2015

STEPS
-- 14 Oct 2015 Sample Bengali and Hindustani names added.
-- 27 Sept 2015 Higher Classification of Bony Fishes (plus many species) added in the developing genetic .
-- 17 Aug 2014 TAG Names added. This is a new optional type of Common Name: try it to help standardize formal communications.
-- 29 May 2014 New output file formats: 'Basic' and 'Notes'.
-- 30 Sept 2013 All Shark species added. Checklists now exportable either with Taxonomic or Ecologic formats.
-- 07 Aug 2013 Sample BioLists posted to illustrate key features. Access these from Home page and ABOUT.
-- 19 June 2013 First online presence with significant supporting information on the 'ABOUT' pages.
-- 29 May 2013 Utility (Common) Names (UCNs) are added. A unique UCN accompanies each and all species names in any BioList.
-- 26 May 2013 A "First Steps" Users' Manual is posted. See: "ABOUT/32-point USER's GUIDE";
-- 17 May 2013 The Index of 131 available Languages is moved to a new "ABOUT/Languages" page, where other new pages are added.
-- 21 Feb 2013 Two BioLists are down-loadable as examples. These, use current Plant Classifications, and a T-b 2010 update.
-- 17 Feb 2013 All Plants, Birds and Mammals can be checklisted at Genus level in both T-b 2000 and T-b 2010 Classifications.
-- 01 Feb 2013 Today, the menus are looking good; trouble shooting may be at an end. It's 1000 days since commiting to put this online!
-- - - - - - - - : Full binomial species' names (Genus + species) termed "Scientific", are now available. [Remodelled 7 Aug 2013]
-- 04 Jan 2013 A new Language feature integrates: i) approximate numbers of native speakers, ii) biodiversity, and iii) new biogeography.
-- 04 Jan 2013 A third taxonomic level, T-b 2005, is accessible, initially for Insects, still mostly at Family level.
-- 23 Dec 2012 A second, updated, version of Taxonomic Classification for Angiosperms and Birds is now online as "T-b 2010".
-- T-b 2010 is additional to and independent of the inaugural "T-b 2000" taxonomy. Keep these apart in separate BioLists.
-- 09 Dec 2012 Multilingual Common Names (T-b 2000) became searchable. See "Language Index" c/o 'Your BioLists'/'Options'.
-- 24 Sept 2012 Initial online presence offering most features for checklisting all Biodiversity, using Time-band 2000 classification.

c)
ELEVEN USES for BioLists
USE--1: BROWSING
Simple:- Enter 3-characters, eg "ele", select "Elephant", and get the Names and Classification for living (and fossil) Elephants.
USE--2: CHECKLISTING((
Simple:- Using 3-character prompts, quickly build your selection of species into a sophisticated, classified, biodiversity checklist.
USE--3: DATA COLLECTION
Simple:- Make a Biodiversity checklists, and for each species add notes and observations - any species; any sort of data.
USE--4: A TAXONOMIC STANDARD
Basic:- BioLists offers a single, middle-of-the-road Classification (but see USE-7) in a way that offers great taxonomic compatibility.
USE--5: INFORMATION MANAGEMENTe)
Simple:- BioLists puts all species' records into a meaningful sequence (Classification): Species' names are the Index for your records.
USE--6: DATA RETRIEVAL
. Simple:- Indexed to species' names, your data is in a predictable and memorable sequence. Files are easy to scan, compare and merge.
USE--7: TAXONOMIC UPDATES
Basic:- Taxonomy evolves, so BioLists offers updated "Time-bands" (T-bs). Updating your files to each new version will be automatic.
USE--8: COMMON NAMES
Fantastic:- These put even the youngest students of Natural History and Conservation in touch with local Ecosystems - and each other.
USE--9: UTILITY COMMON NAMES (UCNs) and TAG COMMON NAMES (TCNs)
Novel:- There's a unique 'formal UCN' for every named species, and a unique 'informal TCN' for many: designed for simplicity and stability.
USE-10: EDUCATION
Realistic:- It's designed to serve Biodiversity Education, local Natural History, species-level Ecology, and community-level Conservation.
USE-11: ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS
Academic:- BioLists will assist Group experts to experiment with alternative Taxonomic Classifications, to compared and relate them.

d)
MORE KEY FEATURES
a -- BioLists is a no-frills, scientific, Information and Communications Technology system, an ICT tool to help do a big job for the environment.
b -- It contains a conservative system of Classification covering all biodiversity based on the international Linnean system of Scientific Names.
c -- This Taxonomy is managed by the international scientific community by way of a range of International Codes of Biological Nomenclature.
d -- BioLists is less concerned with protocols than with offering a quick and repeatable standard service. Who "owns" the service remains open.
e -- BioLists is designed to make all taxonomic names both easily accessible and readily usable, including Common and Vernacular Names.
f -- The BioLists' system accepts local and regional Common Names in many languages, each linked to the unique scientific names of species.
g -- BioLists offers a new approach to data capture and recording for biodiversity: classified species names become the Index for the information.
h -- We promise to keep BioLists basic and simple and away from the unstable cutting edge of taxonomy. Its design gives it taxonomic stability.
i -- The BioLists' brand of ICT is especially suited to lab and field work, and for projects in Education, Natural History, Ecology and Conservation.
j -- "View DB" offers a look into the Database. You locate names alphabetically and then numerically. Numbers relate names to Classification.
k -- The Biodiversity Numbers ("BDV-#s") put all taxa in a conventional sequence at ORDER level: eg Algae...Plants...Fungi...Ants...Fish...Bats...
l -- Sub-groups are usually alphabetic within nested (heirarchical) sequence (as illustrated numerically in exported CSV files).
m -- The taxonomic sequence differs between each Time-band (T-b); updates represent newly accepted research results about relationships.
n -- This total classification of names becomes BioLists' single INDEX - it's a more-or-less predictable sequence that defines checklist structure.
o -- BioLists' main function is biodiversity checklisting: users record species-related observations against any-and-all species names.
p -- In place of arbitrary alphabetic listings of Biodiversity information, BioLists offers the option of using a meaningful taxonomic sequence.
q -- BioLIsts should interest teachers, librarians, parents, scientists, farmers, foresters, academics, fishermen, gardeners, resource managers ...

END

The United Nations' DECADE of BIODIVERSITYstarted in Hyderabad, India, October 2012.